New Delhi: Five-term Lok Sabha MP Meira Kumar on Tuesday became the consensus candidate of the ruling UPA and the Opposition BJP for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.
Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee led a UPA delegation to submit Kumar's nomination papers to Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary for the election to the Speaker's post scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
Sixty four-year-old Kumar, who will be the first woman to head the Lok Sabha, is expected to be elected unopposed as Mukherjee submitted 13 sets of nomination papers which included a set signed by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and seconded by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
"We have filed 13 sets of nomination papers. The first set was signed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and I have seconded it," Mukherjee told reporters at Parliament House.
He said the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani had also signed a set of nomination papers.
"It is a historic moment for women," Kumar said.
Among others who filed nomination papers included Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of NCP, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shailendra Singh Yadav of SP, Arjun Charan Sethi and B Mahtab of BJD, Lalu Prasad, Farooq Abdullah and E Ahamed.
Besides Meira Kumar, Pawar, Abdullah, T R Baalu, P K Bansal, V Narayansamy were present when the nomination papers were submitted.
Meanwhile, Karia Munda, BJP's tribal leader from Jharkhand, was on Tuesday named by the party as its candidate for the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha.
"The BJP's Central Parliamentary Board held a meeting on Tuesday after the government's proposal that as per the convention that the Deputy Speaker's post be given to the main opposition party.
"The Parliamentary Board decided to name six-time party MP in the Lok Sabha Karia Munda as the candidate for the post," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters.